Success comes in many forms

When a well known celebrity can be inspired by a billboard to help raise awareness about the misery of dogs in puppy mills, that is success. Here is 1 example:

Crusaders against puppy mills: Since 1997, Main Line Animal Rescue, located in Chester County, Pennsylvania, has rescued, rehabilitated, and found homes for thousands of puppy mill dogs.

Here is what they have to say about puppy mills:

Buyer Beware: Puppies bred in puppy mills can suffer from parasites, orthopedic problems, hernias, pneumonia, mange, the deadly and contagious Parvovirus, distemper, deafness, cleft palettes, misaligned teeth and jaws, blindness, urinary tract infections, elbow and hip dysplasia, epilepsy, heart defects, ear infections, and serious digestive issues.  And this is nothing compared to the often seen behavioral problems attributed to inbreeding and/or puppies forced to spend those first crucial weeks of life in a facility with over one thousand barking dogs and a terrified mother who spins incessantly in her tiny cage all day long – driven mad by years of confinement.

Mass producing puppies can be an ugly business – underfed dogs feed an industry of cruelty and greed.  There are tens of thousands of puppy mills in this country and a single facility can house over a thousand dogs.  Imagine putting a Golden Retriever in every seat on two Boeing 747 airplanes (1048 seats) and never letting them out of those seats – for nine years.  That would be a puppy mill.  There are more puppy mills in Missouri than any other state in the United States.  Over one-third of the puppies bred in Missouri’s puppy mills are sold in pet stores in Southern California.  Nebraska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania are also known for their numerous puppy mills but substandard dog breeding kennels exist in all fifty states.

If you drive by a billboard such as the one below, allow yourself to be inspired, become involved or nudged a little more towards being one of those who are becoming aware:

From a facebook post: I JUST drove the PA turnpike yesterday and saw a “Welcome to PA. Our Puppy Mills are a national disgrace!” With a girl holding a puppy with red pig tails. And one about lab retrievers being driven mad from years of confinement with a girl with a crown and puppy dog ears. GREAT billboards. …”

Allow yourself to be inspired and motivated too.